Livingstone has suffered multiple muscle injuries in the past two years and as a result also missed a couple of games early in the IPL season after he went down in the field during a defeat to Lucknow Super Giants last month.
Photo: Liam Livingstone (ANI)
Already eliminated from the race to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs, Punjab Kings will be missing their all-rounder Liam Livingstone in their final two league stage outings as the Englishman left India prematurely to get his knee sorted ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Livingstone has suffered multiple muscle injuries in the past two years and as a result also missed a couple of games early in the IPL season after he went down in the field during a defeat to Lucknow Super Giants last month.
He was later left out by PBKS as they looked to find their best combination of overseas players, but later made a re-entry to the side in their loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday.
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“IPL done for another year, had to get my knee sorted for the upcoming World Cup. Thanks once again to the Punjab Kings fans for all their love and support. Disappointing season as a team and personally, but as always I loved every minute of playing in the IPL,” Livingstone wrote on his social media handle.
The Punjab Kings are already out of contention for the top-four slot after another underwhelming season that saw them winning four and losing eight of their 12 matches so far. The Kings are now preparing for their penultimate league match against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on May 15.
Livingstone’s nature of injury isn’t threatening his place in the T20 World Cup squad but could have taken the decision to rest as England prepares to play Pakistan in four T20Is later this month in the run-up to the marque tournament in the US and the West Indies, starting June 1.
Livingstone struggled to make an impact for PBKS, scoring just 111 runs at 22.20 in seven innings, striking at 142.30, and took three wickets in 12 overs. It extends a lean winter for him in franchise cricket after a quiet SA20 season with MI Cape Town and a two-match stint with Sharjah Warriors at the ILT20 tournament.
The other members of England’s World Cup squad who have been at the IPL – Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Phil Salt and Reece Topley – will begin to return home in the next few days and are expected back in the country this weekend.
They will meet up in Leeds ahead of England’s first T20I against Pakistan at Headingley on May 22.
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